Time to shine the spotlight on some excellent achievements of our students, grads and alumni. Continue reading to learn about their success stories and creative milestones. If you have any exciting news that you would like to share, don’t hesitate to get in touch because we want to hear all about it! Want to stay in the loop? You can sign up to our alumni newsletter to get the updates direct to your inbox.
We’re delighted to have a collection of our Archive films hosted on Film London’s Screen Archives. Follow the link to watch! “London’s Screen Archives (LSA) is a unique network of over 70 organisations with a shared vision – to preserve and share London’s history on film.” Thank you Film London and LSA for sharing our legacy and heritage.
Congratulations to MA Filmmaking grad, TJ Collanto, for the recent screenings of his film April Mud at Glasgow Short Film Festival, Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF), FICPBA where it won Best Short Film Sound Design Award, and Beijing International Short Film Festival where it had its Asian premiere!
TJ worked alongside fellow filmmaking alumnus Jiajun 'Oscar' Zhang, who was one of the producers on the film. It was produced as part of their international film collective, Slowly Moving Images which is partly by Oscar and fellow alumna, Hee Young Pyun. We love to see it! Very well done!
A huge congratulations to Screenwriting graduate, Simon Maria Kubiena who has been selected for the Cannes La Residence programme. Simon will participate in the 49th edition of the Residence, which began on 15 March and will run until 31 July 2025. Based in Paris, the participants will receive a personalised screenwriting programme and meetings with industry professionals.
Simon received a short film prize for Blue Noise at the 2022 Berlinale, and is currently developing feature debut and graduate work, The Flowering of a Chimera, about a disturbed young man coming to terms with his guilt through connection to an older man. Best of luck, Simon!
Congratulations Aayushi Agarwal on your grad film Zara Si Dhoop being featured on The Short Kuts YouTube channel and already racking up 1 million views in under two weeks! Be sure to follow the link to watch.
Great to see screenwriting alumna, Despina Ladi, selected as a mentee for the 2025 Wonder Women Mentoring Programme, the only year-long programme empowering the next generation of diverse female leaders in the UK. In addition, the TV series Despina is co-writing with Dania Bdeir, Rent-a-Mama, was selected for Qumra 2025, following its participation in the Doha Film Institute Series Lab, as well as the TorinoFilmLab Series Lab and the Series Mania Writers Campus. Congratulations!
Pleasure to report that Rebecca Marshall’s documentary, The Forest in Me, won Best Documentary Feature at Made in Sussex Film Festival. Well done!
Once again, we’d like to share a huge congratulations to Carla Simón and Oliver Hermanus who were officially selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Carla Simón returns to Cannes with her latest feature, Romería – a poignant exploration of identity, memory, and community. Her work has long been celebrated for its sensitivity and authenticity, and we’re incredibly proud to see her voice once again recognised at one of the world’s most prestigious festivals. Oliver Hermanus brings a bold new project to Cannes that promises to provoke conversation and push boundaries. The History of Sound marks yet another chapter in a career defined by fearless creativity and social relevance. Read more on these momentous achievements here!
Exciting news for Kim Nuesch and her film Marriage Unplugged, which has been shortlisted for the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards! Marriage Unplugged was chosen from over 11,000 submissions and is one of just 30 selected globally. As part of the shortlist, Kim and her sister, Florine, who she co-wrote and co-directed the film with, will travel to Los Angeles for a four-day programme at the iconic Sony Pictures Studios before attending the awards ceremony. Congratulations!
Grad Film Highlights
LFS director Chris Auty travelled to Nimes, France to present a programme of LFS Grad films at the Ecran Britanniqiue et Irlandais of Nîmes where the films had a great reception from an audience of youth cinephiles. These were the selected films…
The Lost Scot (Writer-Director: Julien Cornwall, Producer: Eliot Gelberg-Wilson, Editor: Luke Howe, DOP: Paul Maziere),
On Your Behalf (Writer-Director: Ana Garcia Rico, Editor: John Powell, Producer: Maya Wills),
Rickshaw (Writer-Director-Producer: Raphael Hernandez, Prod: Anastasia Savinova, Jaina Liu, Spandana Patanaik, Editor: Mengyao Zhang, DoP: Eng Teck Ng),
Thread Tension (Writer-Director: Ruby Mastrodimos, Prod. Oliver Staton, Editor: Benjamin Sivo, Producer: Henry Hayton Iles),
Poet (Writer-Dir: Kun Sun, Co-Producer: Xianhe Wang, Producer: Haoyuxuan Liu),
Sharks in Colwyn Bay (Writer-Director: Jonathan Williams, Producer: Siddharth Menon, DoP: Maxwell Cutting, Production Designer: Ben Packwood, Editor: Tom Chambers).
Huge congratulations to The Penitential Act for winning Best Short Film at Ffilmic Film Festival. Writer-Director: Ben Packwood, DOP: Yanxiang Qiu, Production Designer: Elitsa Marielle, Editor: Alexander Emborg, Production Manager: Megha Bhaduri, Assistant Director: Joseph Dominic.
Sharks in Colwyn Bay screened at the next edition of Hastings Rock International Film Festival. Writer-Director: Jonathan Williams, Producer: Siddharth Menon, DoP: Maxwell Cutting, Production Designer: Ben Packwood, Editor: Tom Chambers.
Congratulations also to The House That Stood for picking up Best Narrative Fiction Feature Film Award at Northampton Film Festival. Writer-Director: Antonella Spirito, Producer: Nathan Legger, DOP: Bo Giesen. With comedy dating film, Broken Hearts, also screening (Writer-Director: Julie Magnaudet, Prod: Nathan Legger, DOP: Bo Giesen, Editor: Ryan Ling).
Divine Intervention screened at global Cinequest Film and VR Film Festival. Co-Creator-Dir: Ravenna Tran, Writer: Rebecca Ozer, Prod: Aditya Jain, Megha Bhaduri, Nathan M. Legger, Prod. Manager: Juan Antonio Barroso Lopez, Editor: Ryan Ling.
The 25th edition of the Landshut Short Film Festival will screen two films made by our graduates. Praeis (Writer-Dir: Dovydas Draksas, Producer: Jing Zhao, Production Designer: Anastasiya Mykhaylova, DoP: Tamás Apor Méder, Editor: Dovydas Draksas, Camera Assistant: Yinghui Jing) Lapel (Director: Nicholas Seaton, Producer: Nabil Muzayyin, DOP: Adar Raviv, Editor: Benjamin Sivo).
Rickshaw continues a successful Festival run, screening at ONE Country ONE Film (Writer-Director-Producer: Raphael Hernandez, Prod: Anastasia Savinova, Jaina Liu, Spandana Patanaik, Editor: Mengyao Zhang, DoP: Eng Teck Ng).
Grad film 16 has been shown at Boundless Film Festival. Writer-Director: Ryan Kochberg, DoP: Ryan Kochberg, Assistant Dir: Thomas Derbyshire.
And finally huge congratulations to Hold… Please! for winning the Best Original Screenplay award at Watersprite: The Cambridge International Student Film Festival. Writer-Director: Asa Gartland, DOP: Muhamad Fauzan Bin Abdul Hak, Editor: Lingyi Liu, Producer: Luobing Ye.
Photo credits (top to bottom):
LFS Archive Films: Blues Is My Middle Name, director: Winta Yohannes (1999), The Destructors, director: Charles Joy (1983), British Graffiti, director: Valeri Linn Vaughn (1992), Commonwealth, director: Geoffrey Messenger (1967), No Virginity No Nationality, director: Abderrahmane Sairi (1981), None To Bless, director: Roger Moore (1965).
April Mud BTS, wri-dir: TJ Collanto
Simon Maria Kubiena
Zara Si Dhoop, dir: Prakhar Tripathi, co-writer-prod-DoP: Aayushi Agarwal
Marriage Unplugged, wri-dir: Kim Nüesch and Florine Nüesch
Chris Auty at Nimes Film Festival 2025